From the St. Joseph of Carondelet order, the sisters teach, work with refugees, comfort the bereaved and strive for social justice.

Sister Suzanne, 80, and Sister Maureen, 70, are celebrating their 60th and 50th Jubilee (anniversary), respectively. Sister Suzanne taught at several San Diego schools before earning a master’s degree in applied spirituality from University of San Francisco. Two years ago, she retired from her spiritual guidance work at Immaculate Conception parish in Old Town. She works eight hours a week with refugees at Catholic Charities downtown.

“The refugees are all from different religions,” Sister Suzanne said. “We’re all praying to the same God. People ask, ‘How do you communicate?’ I can’t explain it, but we do.”

Sister Maureen has worked full time at St. Thomas More Church in Oceanside for the past 10 years.

“She’s respected and loved here. She’s a compassionate, warm human being,” said Henri Black, chair of the Social Justice Committee. “She lives the gospel with every breath.”

While being a Sister of St. Joseph brings similar satisfaction to both nuns, their experiences upon entering the religious order were very different.

“I grew up with the sisters in Prescott (Ariz.),” Sister Suzanne said. “They were joyful, happy women. I went to college for a year before I entered, but I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

For Sister Maureen, the decision-making started earlier and lasted a few years.

“I felt I was called by God,” she said. “I tried to convince God to find someone else. I felt an invitation in sixth grade; I ignored it because I was going to marry and have eight children. In eighth grade, I prayed to Mary to ask her son to stop asking me. Finally, my desire to my call was stronger than my desire to be married.

“It was difficult for my family. I told them let me try it and see if it makes me happy. And it made me very happy.”

The Sisters of St. Joseph are best known in San Diego for their founding in 1882 of what is now the Academy of Our Lady of Peace, which they still administer. In past years, the order ran three other high schools and seven elementary schools here.

Sisters Maureen and Suzanne shared a similar path, teaching first and then parish ministry.

“I worked with Sister Suzanne at Immaculate Conception Church for eight years,” said Monsignor Mark Campbell, now pastor of Our Mother of Confidence in University City. “She has great listening skills and a contagious sense of humor. When she worked with families on funeral preparations, she could bring a lighter side to very somber moments.”

Sister Suzanne also helped couples prepare for marriage and organized parish retreats, among many other duties.

“The thing that attracted me to parish work was the concentration on spirituality,” Sister Suzanne said. “In education, you’re spread very thin.”

Sister Maureen said work with St. Thomas More’s 10-person bereavement committee is rewarding and stressful.

“Within two hours of notification of death, we contact the family,” she said. “Volunteers bring food, set up, serve and clean up the reception. If the family needs to mend relationships, there’s no excuse to leave the table to get coffee.”

For the second half of her job, Sister Maureen and the Social Justice Committee collaborate with two local faith-based organizations on such issues as workers’ rights and immigration.

“It appears that immigration will be with us for quite some time,” she said, adding that she attended July protests in Escondido supporting Central American refugees. “The thing I love about this work is that we help empower people. It’s like the old saying, ‘Give a person a fish or teach them to fish.’”

Both sisters belong to the same, small local unit of nuns and associates of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

“I can say, after being in many other states, that I love the people in San Diego,” Sister Suzanne said. “They are so friendly and have such confidence in the Sisters of St. Joseph.

“I’ve never regretted the decision (to enter the order). It’s not to say it’s easy all the time — just as it is not easy in marriage. But Maureen and I have hung in there.”

Sister Maureen put it this way: “People are grateful to us for our dedication and serving the community, but I get as much if not more back. They challenge me to be my best self. I’m so grateful. I could never do this without working with lay folk as dedicated to God as I am. I get so much back.”